Della Jones

Della Jones (13 April 1946), is a Welsh mezzo-soprano, particularly well known for her interpretations of works by Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Britten.

Life and career

Della Jones was born in Tonna, near Neath, Wales. She studied at the Royal College of Music, where she won the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship, and later in Geneva, where she made her professional debut in 1970, as Feodor and Olga.

She joined the English National Opera in 1977 where she created the role of Dolly in Iain Hamilton's Anna Karenina in 1981, and the Royal Opera House in 1983, and began appearing abroad notably in France, Italy, and the United States.

Her repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary works, with a specialty in the bel canto operas, notably of Rossini. In the mid 1970s. she began a long association with Opera Rara, appearing in many long forgotten bel canto works, both on stage and on recording. She can be heard in complete recordings of Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi, L'assedio di Calais, Maria Padilla, Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto and Rossini's Ricciardo e Zoraide and made a solo album with the title Della Jones sings Donizetti, in all of which one can appreciate her impeccable coloratura technique and strong feeling for words and music.

Jones

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Della

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Gioachino Rossini

Gioachino Antonio Rossini (Italian: [dʒoaˈkiːno anˈtɔːnjo rosˈsiːni]; 29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces.

His best-known operas include the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola (Cinderella), and the French-language epics Moïse et Pharaon and Guillaume Tell (William Tell). A tendency for inspired, song-like melodies is evident throughout his scores, which led to the nickname "The Italian Mozart".

Until his retirement in 1829, Rossini had been the most popular opera composer in history. He is quoted as joking, "Give me the laundress' bill and I will even set that to music."

Early life

Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born into a family of musicians in Pesaro, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy which was then part of the Papal States. His father, Giuseppe, was a horn player and inspector of slaughterhouses. His mother, Anna, was a singer and a baker's daughter. Rossini's parents began his musical training early, and by the age of six he was playing the triangle in his father's musical group.

Rule, Britannia!

"Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740. It is strongly associated with the Royal Navy, but also used by the British Army.

Original masque

This British national air was originally included in Alfred, a masque about Alfred the Great co-written by Thomson and David Mallet and first performed at Cliveden, country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales (the eldest son of George II and father of the future George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria), on 1 August 1740, to commemorate the accession of George II and the third birthday of the Princess Augusta.

Frederick, a German prince who arrived in England as an adult and was on very bad terms with his father, was making considerable efforts to ingratiate himself and build a following among his subjects-to-be (which came to naught, as he predeceased his father and never became king). A masque linking the prince with both the medieval hero-king Alfred the Great's victories over the Vikings and with the current building of British sea power — exemplified by the recent successful capture of Porto Bello from the Spanish by Admiral Vernon on 21 November 1739, avenging in the eyes of the British public Admiral Hosier's disastrous Blockade of Porto Bello of 1726–27 — went well with his political plans and aspirations.